Meet Mark

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Sisson. I’m 63 years young. I live and work in Malibu, California. In a past life I was a professional marathoner and triathlete. Now my life goal is to help 100 million people get healthy. I started this blog in 2006 to empower people to take full responsibility for their own health and enjoyment of life by investigating, discussing, and critically rethinking everything we’ve assumed to be true about health and wellness...

Action Item #3: Make the Healthiest Choices Across the Spectrum

Most of us aren’t hunters. Most of us can’t take days off from work to gather some edible bulbs and silently stalk a wild beast whose pursuit might not even end in a kill and meal. No, we are modern humans who go to work, who wield income rather than spears, who mosey on down to the grocery store when we need food. We have the luxury – and some might say burden – of choosing what we’ll eat and when we’ll eat it. But strangely enough, there was a sort of freedom in the way we obtained food in years gone past, wasn’t there? When we filled our bellies solely by what we could catch, grow, and gather, there wasn’t a whole lot of junk food sneaking onto our plates. No Twinkies, no double gallon jugs of soybean oil, no golden arches looming over you.

And so now we’re tasked with making healthy choices, whereas before healthy choices were all that existed. It’s great to have the freedom to choose, but we should try to make the right choices.

How do we do it? We make the healthiest choices across the spectrum of foods as dictated by circumstance, access, and finances. Let’s see how they rank, with 1 being “healthiest.” Start with the foods with the first spot and buy those when and if you can.

Red Meat (Beef, Lamb, Pork)

Red meat, along with seafood (and derivative fats), will likely provide the lion’s share of your calories. It’s probably best that you get the best stuff possible.

1. Grass-fed/grass-finished/pastured (pork) – Before organic and before local comes grass-fed and finished. While I try to buy beef from local providers – and usually end up doing just that – I’m most concerned that the beef I eat comes from animals raised strictly on grass. Even a few weeks of grain feeding can alter the nutritional content and fatty acid composition of the resultant meat, so grass-fed and finished is the absolute best. These needn’t be certified organic, but I’ve found that many grass-finished ranchers are organic in everything but name. You won’t find grass-fed pork, because pigs aren’t ruminants, but you can find pastured pork who are allowed to forage and often receive farm waste (milk, whey, fruits, vegetables). Note that “pastured” beef isn’t necessarily grass-fed and finished. Bones, organ meat, and tougher cuts like chuck and stew are less expensive – and arguably more nutritious – ways to incorporate truly grass-finished animals into your diet.

2. Organic – According to the USDA, organic beef must come from cows who were born and raised on organic pasture, must never receive antibiotics, must never receive growth-promoting hormones, must have unrestricted outdoor access, and must be fed only organic grasses and grains. So, yeah, grains. Note that there’s no mention of the breakdown between grains and grasses; it could be 80% grains and 20% grass and still qualify as organic. So, while organic is clearly preferable to conventional meat, it’s unlikely to be superior to grass-fed and finished meat without the organic label.

3. CAFO – Most meat you’ll come across in supermarkets and restaurants will be from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, where animals are treated like mere products and maximum productivity is prized above all – even if it means pumping the animals (and their meat) full of antibiotics, hormones, and pesticide-laden feed. The meat doesn’t taste as good, it’s less nutritious, and, at least in the case of pork, it’s extremely high in omega-6 fats.

Poultry and Eggs

For when you’re not eating ruminants. Dollar for dollar, truly pastured eggs might just be the best use of your money.

1. Pastured – A pastured chicken isn’t just free range, given a patch of dirt upon which to scratch and peck; a pastured chicken is given access to pasture, to grassland teeming with a smorgasbord of delicious insects, nutritious plants, and edible seeds. The best pastured poultry gets most of its calories from the pasture, with a few handfuls of chicken feed to round things out back at the henhouse. Since poultry (and every animal we eat) doesn’t create nutrients out of thin air, its nutritional content is determined by the nutritional content of its diet. A pastured chicken (or duck, or turkey, or any bird) tastes like a different animal altogether, probably because it’s living like its primary ancestor – the jungle fowl (PDF) – and its fatty acid composition bears that out (far less omega-6 than battery-raised birds). Same goes for eggs from the same birds.

2. Organic – Organic poultry gets outdoor access and organic feed. It receives no antibiotics, no drugs, and no hormones (although that’s true for all chickens, at least in the US). It does not get access to pasture, to bugs, or to edible grasses unless otherwise specified. It’s better than conventional poultry, but it’s eating corn and soy (albeit non-GMO, organic) just the same.

3. Free range – Doesn’t mean very much. It has access to the outside, but it’s just a dirt patch. All the food (which is just soy and corn, of course) is inside, so that’s where it’ll spend most of its time. At least it gets to walk around some, rather than being crammed in a cage.

4. CAFO – Avoid if you can, unless you like eating beakless, stationary, big-breasted birds with soybean and corn oil for fat.

Seafood

Seafood and the omega-3 fats, sea minerals like iodine, and other micronutrients it provides are essential. Even if you think you “hate seafood,” check out the lists below and I’m sure you’ll be able to find something you can enjoy.

1. Shellfish, farmed/wild; oily fish, wild; coho, farmed, barramundi – Wild-caught sardines, salmon, tuna, anchovies, mackerel, and herring have the highest levels of omega-3 and, except for salmon and tuna, they’re some of the most affordable fish around. Farmed shellfish are raised essentially like wild shellfish, attached to a fixed object and allowed to obtain sustenance from the ocean; they’re also the most nutrient-dense of the edible sea creatures. And although most farmed salmon is nutritionally inferior to wild, farmed coho salmon is actually quite reminiscent of wild coho. Barramundi is fairly high in omega 3s, about the same as coho salmon. In the wild, it’s omnivorous, but it does very well on a mostly herbivorous diet and needs far less fish meal than salmon while still retaining the omega-3s.

2. Canned oily fish and shellfish – Canned sardines, salmon, light tuna, oysters, mussels, and other fish from the first category are budget-friendly ways to eat healthy seafood. Just stick to BPA-free versions, to avoid the endocrine disruption.

3. Domestic catfish, trout, tilapia, crayfish; non-oily wild fish – While trying to farm wholly carnivorous fish is problematic and usually ends up producing an inferior food, replicating the diet of herbivorous fish is easier. In short, everything listed here is fair game, whether wild or farmed, especially if it’s domestic. Neither they nor the non-oily wild fish like cod are particularly high in omega-3s, but they’re all great sources of protein with decent levels of nutrients.

Vegetables and Fruits

Plants – both vegetables and fruits – form the basis of the Primal Blueprint way of eating. They don’t provide the bulk of calories by any means, but they provide volume and micronutrients. It’s important that you eat the most nutritious, less problematic types.

Growing Method

1. Local organic – The cream of the crop. Food from your neck of the woods grown with organic methods that doesn’t have to travel halfway across the country to reach you.

2. Local conventional – Less transit time means a more recent harvest date means more nutrition. Local ranks higher than anything grown remotely, even organic. Besides, many smaller producers like the ones you’ll run into at farmer’s markets use organic methods without the official stamp of approval from the government.

3. Organic remote – Produce grown without massive amounts of pesticides and herbicides applied tend to have higher levels of polyphenols, the plant’s natural methods of protecting against pests and other aggressors. Those same polyphenols are good for us, too.

4. Conventional remote with skin that’s inedible or easy to wash – If you’re going to eat conventional produce, you best try to stick to vegetables whose skins you peel, remove, or easily wash. Avocados, onions, asparagus – these are pretty safe, since you’re either not going to be eating the skin that’s come into contact with chemicals or you’ll be able to wash it effectively. For fruits, bananas, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, and kiwis are good.

5. Conventional remote with edible or hard to wash surfaces – Leafy greens, broccoli, bell peppers, and other vegetables whose surface area is eaten or too large to effectively wash should be eaten with caution or avoided altogether. Fruits with soft, edible skin, like apples, apricots, peaches, plums, pears, grapes, berries, and tomatoes are best avoided.

2. Less nutrient-dense – There’s nothing wrong with stuff like cucumbers, butter lettuce, or iceberg lettuce, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on them when there’s so many more intriguing and beneficial options available.

Nuts

Although all nuts are highly nutritious, they are calorically dense, and many of them are high in omega-6 fats. When you’re talking about a whole food high in vitamin E and magnesium like an almond or a hazelnut, a little omega-6 isn’t anything to worry about. But when those occasional handfuls of nuts become regular, constant occurrences whose caloric content begins to approximate that of entire meals, the omega-6 fats add up.

Supplemental Carbs

These are exactly that – supplements with which to address a deficiency. If you’re a hard-charging athlete who trains daily, then you might need some supplementary glucose to function best. If you’re not, though, you may not need these supplements on a regular basis.

1. Tubers and other starchy vegetables – Sweet potatoes of all kinds, potatoes of all kinds, and winter squash like butternut or acorn are all carb-dense and nutrient-dense, making them great sources of both supplemental carbs for athletic purposes and of minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients.

2. Wild rice, quinoa – These pseudo-grains are gluten-free and relatively low in other plant toxins, especially if you soak and ferment them using traditional preparation methods. They’re fine ways to add more glucose to your diet.

Dairy

If you’re tolerant of it, dairy can be a fantastic source of fat, protein, and nutrition. Stick to grass-fed and finished, or at least pastured, dairy products for the superior nutrition (CLA, vitamin K2).

2. Raw, full-fat – Think butter, cream, whole milk. Raw dairy is more nutritious, it’s fats less damaged, and the full fat content is necessary for proper absorption and presence of fat-soluble vitamins like vitamins A and K2. Plus, full-fat dairy contains the most CLA.

3. Organic, non-homogenized, full-fat – Sure, it’s pasteurized, but at least the fat globules haven’t been damaged after undergoing high pressure homogenization treatment. The fat-solubles will be mostly intact.

Well, that should get you started for your next shopping trip. Be sure to revisit Action Item #1, where I detailed what not to buy, plus Action Item #2, where I explained how to shop and what fats and kitchen staples to buy, then let me know if you have any further questions on food choices in the comments. Take care and Grok on!

when eating in say, a college dining hall, where everything is organic and ‘natural’ but definitely still grain fed, how does one make the best choices on what to eat? should I mix it up between deli meats, the grilled meats, and all lean and fatty cuts? I struggle to figure out what the least unhealthy sources of fat in a dining hall are.

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Adam

5 years 4 months ago

I’m in college as well, and this is a tough question. Mostly, I like to focus on getting the kinds of macronutrients I want (for example during a carb refeed I may choose lean meats instead of fattier cuts), but lean cuts will be healthier than fatty cuts due to the accumulation of toxins in the fat (and there will be toxins b/c it’s not grass-fed/free-range, etc). I wouldn’t stress about it too much, because you can only do your best and adapt to the crazy dining hall foods they provide. I have invested in some fish oil to combat… Read more »

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MattyT

5 years 4 months ago

Grain fed with higher Omega 6 is ok as long as you are balancing with Omega 3’s. Get you meat, probably grilled before cold cuts, then hit the salad bar and olive oil, avacado etc. Grain fed is not “ideal” but I wouldn’t sweat it.

not sure i agree about it being “not very exciting sounding” – not sure what you meant either exactly – about being a prehistoric human or skipping deli meats. here in europe you can “hunt down” quite some varied prepared deli meats, without nitrates (gotta watch for that) and full of all kinds of parts of the animals. and also, why lean? the good fats from properly fed animals, the fats incorporated into excellent salami and wurst and the like are superb energy and nutrient suppliers. we have come to appreciate the excellence of such meats as long-lasting energy sources… Read more »

and as far as being a prehistoric human not being very exciting (if that is what you meant) i kinda think it was quite exciting and very likely a much fuller experience than our tempered and boxed up little existences of the modern world.

stop eating at the college dining hall. i know, i know – this is practically impossible but if you really want to control what goes into your body, i can promise you that mass feeding locations like dining halls will do what is economical, convenient and expedient.

maybe you can somehow manage to control your own menu at least on weekends of on several days of the week that have slower class schedules?

Not all dining halls are bad. Last year when attending Dickinson College the cafeteria served me grass-fed burgers and produce grown on the college’s own organic farm!

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Michelle

5 years 4 months ago

The problem with that too is that you’ve probably already paid for the dining hall food, and would then have to spend additional money to get other food… plus not every dorm room has a good option for being able to cook or store food. But you could possibly buy your own fresh fruits/veggies and high-quality fats (coconut oil, avocados, etc) to supplement the dining hall food.

stop eating at the college dining hall. i know, i know – this is practically impossible but if you really want to control what goes into your body, i can promise you that mass feeding locations like dining halls will do what is economical, convenient and expedient and NOT healthy.

maybe you can somehow manage to control your own menu at least on weekends of on several days of the week that have slower class schedules?

given what is involved in finding all the finest of the above items I’ve often considered what I do to procure them the modern version of hunting and gathering…I wander far and wide to get all I need…my backyard, the health food store, neighboring farms and on occasion the forest and other public lands for wild greens etc…oh…let’s not forget the internet…another terrain for hunting and gathering today…it’s no small thing getting all this fine food…

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BillP

5 years 4 months ago

+1

A good perspective.

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Madame Flintstone

5 years 4 months ago

Agreed Monica.
Living in a (massive) city, having young offspring and collecting primal food/ingredients is a full-time job.
I guess traffic/munter-drivers are the wild animal equivalent. Shame we can’t shoot them with an arrow and take them home for a bang-up hangi (in-ground Maori-style roast). Too many omega-6’s, hahahahahhaahahhahahaaa…
Ahh. Sicko.

I used to be all about organic. Now, my focus is on local and pastured. I want those animals happy and eating what they were meant to eat. It doesn’t make sense to give up grains then eat animals that only eat grains!

Our local farmer’s market is now our main stop on the weekend. We go straight to the meat stand and any money left over goes towards veggies.

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Happycyclegirl

5 years 4 months ago

Biggest challenge I find is fresh veggies in the winter (we live in Canada) which are organic. While our organic produce section in the grocery stores have certainly grown, they have a long way to go.

Best thing I found is to freeze and jar as much as I can in the summer and fall so that I have it on hand during the winter. (Except lettuce, of course. Have to buy that fresh.) 🙂

“And so now we’re tasked with making healthy choices, whereas before healthy choices were all that existed. It’s great to have the freedom to choose, but we should try to make the right choices.”

This is something I’ve noticed since beginning college. I’ve actually found it much easier to stay primal here. At home, I had to cook a lot of primal foods if I wanted them. But at school, I kind of have everything out in front of me. There’s always meat available and tons of vegetables.

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Diane

5 years 4 months ago

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought barramundi had a fairly good omega 3 content? It’s not actually herbivorous, it’s omnivorous and a lot of farming operations give them 30% fish meal. At least, that’s what I was told.

Sometimes you get animals that are grass-fed and grain-finished. A lot of bison available in the supermarket is raised like that. In many cases, it is still something to be proud of because of the nice fatty marbling that comes from grain-finishing. It does drastically change the nutritional value, though.

If I’m missing something there, someone please fill me in.

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DarcieG

5 years 4 months ago

What about pastured animals that are raised on grass and silage? The local butcher said that having the animals only eat grass was akin to having humans eat only iceberg lettuce (which seems a bit ridiculous to me, but I do want to know about the silage).

There’s different kinds of silage. Grass silage is probably a rather different food source than corn silage (which may not be far off from just feeding them corn.)

Beyond that, I don’t know enough about it to tell you how much the fermentation of silage might be bad for the quality of the food.

As for the butcher claiming that humans trying to survive on icerberg lettuce (impossible) is akin to a grazing herbivore grazing on herb… yeah, that’s ridiculous. Sure, cattle that only eat grass aren’t marbled like those deliberately fattened on other food sources, but they aren’t starving to death.

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Wafaa

5 years 4 months ago

From what I know, silage is basically fermented grass plants (which includes grain plants, but the whole green thing). It’s like hay, except hay is dry while silage contains a good deal of moisture.

that’s true – silage is supposed to mean pasture grasses sightly fermented due to being bailed with the proper moisture content for winter feeding. you may want to ask what YOUR farmers mean by silage cause sometimes it will mean complete plant corn (not the worst…) and as for your local butcher – he’s a conventional hack – TOTALLY wrong. ruminants are meant to eat PASTURE PLANTS – MAINLY GRASSES and a big part of the problem is that pastures are not longer the huge variety of grasses, “weeds”, herbs, flowers and other plants that they used to be (thus… Read more »

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Heather

5 years 4 months ago

Hi, the fermentation process of the silage makes the grasses more digestible, by breaking down cellular walls, and the sugar content rises. Sometimes here hay is baled a bit moist and it heats up and cooks a bit, and my sheep just go ape over it, climbing over each other to get at the bale! Smells a bit like tobacco sometimes. So silage is to the farmer a feed that increases digestibility, palatability, and nutritious, as well as being able to be stored for years in times of plenty. Not to be feared if it has been made from a… Read more »

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BJML

5 years 4 months ago

As far as what your butcher thinks, I recently listened to a gentleman lecturing on the nutritional content of various diets of different animals. Since cows are foregut ruminants, they do eat grasses, BUT they then ferment those same grasses to form short chain fatty acids. In fact, when you compare mammals, we all end up with about 50-60% of the calories we eat coming from fat, whether it’s fat that’s eaten ( in the case of humans or carnivores) or fermented from vegetation (in the case of ruminants or gorillas). So cows eating grass is NOT like humans eating… Read more »

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BT

5 years 4 months ago

Grass silage is fermented grass, chopped to short length to store it in bulk..it rots under its own weight and when fresh is warm from the bacteria ..cows find it delicious, as it has sugar added it is very good nutrition for them… Grass padocks are not monocultures, indeed the longer the paddock is kept as such, more species of meadow plants take hold, race horses do especially well on meadows that have not been cultivated for decades..organic farms try and encourage this diversity as the more plant species the better the soil life..it is amazing stuff..check out Paul Cheks… Read more »

Our daily life is stressful and what we eat tend to be “fast convenient” food. This article just highlight the healthy diet habits we should follow.

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Christina

5 years 4 months ago

Very helpful post! This is exactly what I needed with where I am in PB right now. Keep ’em coming, Mark!

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Joshua

5 years 4 months ago

Not doable. With 3 babies and one income, $10lb chicken and $6lb burger is not even on the radar when CAFO meat is already expensive enough. I don’t go on vacations, I work a second job part of the year, I eat about one meal a day during the week, and I already make just about everything from scratch. Anyone want to tell me how I can afford this and why even if I could come up with the extra money that this would be the place to spend it? I’ve lost about 35 pounds with Primal on CAFO meat,… Read more »

i’m not criticizing Joshua, just want to suggest that going primal for health and weight loss may not pan out if the foodstuffs you load up on are full of toxins, poisons, and horribly out-of-balance omega 3/6 oils as grain-fed CAFO meats most definitely are. losing weight is only one goal/advantage of the primal life – cleaning your body of toxins, poisons and balancing your omegas is also just as important – and i have to say – as a father also on a budget – i’d rather me and my family eats good clean and healthy-raised meat once a… Read more »

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Joshua

5 years 4 months ago

Would I rather? Yeah. No doubt CAFO meat is inferior. Just hoping the difference is overblown enough not to be the difference between good health and bad.
As I see it, I have 3 dietary options that I can afford to get the calories I need to function. Typical SAD, Vegetarian, Primal w/ conventional meat and produce. Unless I have excluded an option, you tell me which is best.

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Rokzane

5 years 4 months ago

Hi Joshua, I can’t always afford grass-fed/pastured meats, so I actually end up eating very little meat–only a couple times a month. My staples are canned wild sardines, good quality canned tuna, and organic eggs (which I can get at Costco for $6.75 for 2 dozen). And when the choice is $22 for a piece of grass-fed meat or $22 for a 2.5 qt container of coconut oil, I’m buying the coconut oil! It’ll last me far longer than the piece of meat will. Some weeks I survive almost exclusively on eggs and vegetables. Sometimes my diet ends up being… Read more »

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Stephanie

5 years 4 months ago

Have you looked into buying and freezing a large amount of meat directly from the farmer? We’ve done this a couple of times and it’s significantly cheaper. Plus, you can share a whole side of beef with friends if you don’t have enough freezer space.

so one more suggestion Joshua – get grass fed and/or organic beef, sheep, goat BONES and prepare them in the traditional ways (low simmer for days with a little vinegar and then some veg) – strain and make soups – we do this and can make $5 worth of bones (sometimes free depending on your source), 6-8 bucks worth of quality veg and a couple paks of grass fed burger (10-12 bucks) stretch into 3-5 family meals, all the while getting most all the excellent benefits possible. good soup is getting us through a lean spell right now starting a… Read more »

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mars

5 years 4 months ago

I totally feel you Joshua. We struggle to afford grass fed and pastured. I make choices like not buying new clothes or shoes…no vacations etc…i eat mostly eggs, canned fish, vegetables, avocados, coconut during the week and save meat for my family few times a week..it’s not easy on a tight budget…we do the best we can and take solace in knowing that no grains/no SAD is better overall…

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Kea

5 years 4 months ago

Hi Joshua, not sure what your living arrangements are (city/suburb/apartment/house etc) but you may be able to buy some chickens and grow your own pastured eggs for protein? Then can ditch the cafo meat and buy the once a month grass fed meat, or even the cheaper cuts of grass fed meat for a couple of times? Or organic green leafy vege (where it really matters). If you have even a tiny backyard can do a permaculture chicken run/garden – google Linda woodrow she has an awesome book that explains how you can do this without having to buy chicken… Read more »

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Mamachibi

5 years 4 months ago

Oh man, do be careful! I got “spoiled” the last three years eating grass fed and finished beef, goat and lamb, and pastured pork and chicken from a local supplier that I trust. Their stock ran short a couple weeks ago and I had to buy grocery store meat. I couldn’t eat it. It smelled terrible, was mushy to handle raw and didn’t cook the same. I fed it to the family (who didn’t notice a difference) and went on a nice, long fast.

One note about organic vs. local conventional. Some crops are so doused in pesticides and herbicides that organic is better regardless of distance.

I’m fortunate to live in Seattle where you can get local/organic for much of the year, often directly from the farmer, if you’re willing to eat with the seasons. (Things do get a little thin from late winter through early spring, though.)

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Shannon

5 years 4 months ago

I love the idea of all of this and Mark is right on point. I use a local farm service that provides weekly fruit and veggie deliveries mostly organic, some not and an awesome pastured all grass meat distributor that sells beef, pork, goat, lamb and chicken in bulk so I dont have to make a dozen trips and pay top dollar. My body is improving as each day goes on!

a note on pork – it is tricky to get properly fed pork – these creatures are forest/meadow creatures and eat some surface plants but are suited for rooting around for roots – and seldom are they raised ANYTHING like this now. here on the farm where i live (as mentioned, it’s in central Switzerland) they raise these huge semi-sweet beets that they feed the pigs in the winter – but this farm also feeds corn to the pigs. i believe i remember an outfit in texas that raised old species and did so in forest land – THAT is… Read more »

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Ingvildr

5 years 4 months ago

On the subject of free range chickens, in our area we have to keep them penned with netting over the top. There are hawks, eagles, skunks, weasels and dogs who all would enjoy chicken dinner. Many of the people around here with space do make movable pens however. I’m not sure about the commercial producers however.

had the same problem with our chickens when we lived in the high desert new mexico – chickens wouldn’t last the day without complete cover – we had a big greenhouse and did our best to provide daily weeding scraps from there as well as meat scraps from the butcher – and those eggs had the yellowest yolks i have EVER seen— so it can be done–

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DRK

5 years 4 months ago

I stretch 30# clear monofilament fishing line where these avian predators will likely fly to hunt my chickens. The hawks and other avian predators will learn to avoid this area. It doesn’t take a lot if it is placed in the right places. Before any one attacks me for being cruel, restaurants do this to keep seagulls and other birds from flying over outside diners. So attack them first. I also pen them up at night to keep them out of reach of 4 legged chicken thieves.

things that you can snack on, but also may involve some cooking and twisting up

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BJML

5 years 4 months ago

Coconut products are fabulous! I use (organic, expeller pressed virgin) oil to cook with, or also just to eat a spoonful if I’m hungry, but don’t want to cause an insulin spike. Coconut flour replaced rice and gluten free flours, coconut aminos replaced soy sauce. Coconut oil has a large amount of lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid with lots of wonderful properties. Guess what the other main source of lauric acid is? Breast milk. Medium chain fatty acids require neither bile salts nor pancreatic digestive enzymes in order to be absorbed from the gut-they are small enough to… Read more »

Holy mounds of info here (good great info) but a tad overwhelming! May have to read this a few more times! lol

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Joseph S.

5 years 4 months ago

Just wanted to say, this is a great guide. Thanks!

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J C

5 years 4 months ago

Emerging research is casting some doubt on the safety of quinoa as a carb source. Certain strains (and it’s hard to know exactly which strain you’re getting or to prevent cross-contamination) have been shown to cause a reaction in celiac cells on the same order as gluten. Some people are also sensitive to the saponins present in the coating, which are reduced by processing but not completely eliminated. I would generally recommend starchy tubers, tapioca, or even white rice over quinoa if you need the carbs – especially if you are celiac or have other autoimmune issues.

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Kelekona

5 years 4 months ago

I heard a recent npr story about how Mexicans were having trouble with their laying hens and mentioned that they hated American eggs. But yeah, it looks like I’m going to eat garbage. Too often I’ve spent $6 in gas just to buy a token amount of vegetables at the farmer’s market, and a $5 budget at the closer one means that I might walk away with a $3 cabbage. I don’t even like cabbage enough to spend more than .60 on it. I miss my old butcher. He’d have Amish chickens at competitive prices. Grocery store roasters look weird.

unlikely, but if there were, they died off before reproducing for sure. your genetics are those of a meat eater/omnivore – no question about this. veganism is a modern, elitist eating disorder that stems from the separation from nature that we are all experiencing in the modern world. this fundamental lack of contact/knowledge of the natural order of things and the respect that should be granted that natural order leads to intellectualized displacement of empathy (although most vegans are not so bright i have found…) bring in our social over-emphasis on politics and political-correctness, and our cultural fear of death… Read more »

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cate

5 years 4 months ago

Wow. Where do you folks get the cash? I live in the city. We can’t raise chickens. I get sticker shock when I buy meat which I rarely ate for 20 or so years. I gave up flour, sugar and don’t touch processed food. After five months I look anorectic and I eat like a hog. I crave veggies instead of junk. The cost will kill me before the toxins.

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Mamachibi

5 years 4 months ago

Can’t speak for anyone else, but for my family it was a conscious and sometimes difficult choice. We have one TV with minimum service, high speed internet only because it’s paid by the company we telecommute with, one cellphone between the 8 of us, one (old) car, no health insurance. We make our clothes, live very simply, purchase almost nothing new, cut our own hair and process our own food (grinding grains for those who eat them, making our own cheeses, yogurt and butter for those who eat dairy, grinding our own meat, etc.) We have no memberships, no subscriptions… Read more »

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Rokzane

5 years 4 months ago

Not all of us have the desire to live like a Spartan. Nor do all of us have the time to devote to homesteading pursuits. I cook all of my meals from scratch, but seriously, what household with 2 working professionals has the time for all of that? I barely have the time for my weekly pickle making sessions. And there is NO way I’ve giving up my health insurance, even if it does cost me nearly $400/month for just my husband and myself. I just think that’s irresponsible. All it takes is one serious accident or illness to ruin… Read more »

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SophieE

5 years 4 months ago

She began the whole thing with “can’t speak for anyone else” so she’s not implying that her life has anything to do with yours. I didn’t get a sense of her being sanctimonious at all. I think her comment was informative in terms of emphasizing the high cost of quality food in her area and the trade offs she feels she must make. I make smaller trade-offs, such as not buying nuts (expensive) or coconut butter or pea chips or any other of those expensive health food shop items that I would like. My veggies are 90% seasonal and local.… Read more »

Roz, sometimes it takes a leap of faith to look outside the boxes we all create for ourselves. I lived my whole adult life with no health insurance – (i’m 58)and have simply paid for the few health events that cost me money. fear is a big motivator – and not a good one to let lead your decisions in life. $400 a month can buy a nice chunk of good food and meat for 2 people – there are a huge variety of people and attitudes on this blog and each of us states our priorities – no reason… Read more »

I’m sorry if I offended you, Rozkane, it wasn’t my intention. Our lives are far from Spartan, they are very full…just full of other things than most people’s.

I guess my point was that we need to approach any challenge mindfully, carefully considering our priorities. Many of my friends say they can’t afford to eat healthily, but make other things like daily fast food trips a priority. You have considered your priorities, so my comments certainly don’t apply to you!

Wow – that’s a pile of information, and all good! It’s good to see this laid out in a single post, especially for those just getting started with Primal! A good overview of what the good choices are – and the reasons for each can be found in further detail elsewhere on the site!

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Katie

5 years 4 months ago

Why are prunes and plums listed separately under different sugar contents? Prunes are just dried plums, and as such should contain more sugar by weight, no? So why are prunes categorized as low sugar and plums as high sugar?

every time these issues come up, of course the costs related to buying good food comes up as well – historically we are paying the absolute least for food (% of budget) than any time in recorded history!

to get a little perspective, google (copy and paste):

Re-thinking the Appropriate Cost of Food

(at Daiasolgaia)

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Amy

5 years 4 months ago

I think it’s important not to eat too much meat/seafood though – I aim for three meat-free days a week, which is easy for me but I know some people might find that challenging.

can you comment, amy, on why you would think not eating too much meat/seafood is important and what is the rationale behind your reasoning?

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MarkA

5 years 4 months ago

Although the primal diet advocates eating full-fat meats, I think some people have a tendency to be a little overzealous. I did the calculations for protein intake based on my lean body mass and it comes to about 4 ounces of meat a day, which is only about the size of a deck of cards. If I’m eating eggs, nuts, full-fat yogurt, on a regular basis, I really don’t need much meat as a protein source. Of course, it’s tasty and if I’m shopping right, the fats are great, but that may be what Amy meant. I had a friend… Read more »

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josh

5 years 4 months ago

why is it a huge amount of food? that sounds pretty reasonable to me for dinner.

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MarkA

5 years 4 months ago

Josh, so 2 lbs of meat and nothing else is a good idea? Maybe if you’re planning on not eating anything else for a couple of days, or if you are an ocelot.

My point (and probably Amy’s) was that the primal diet still stresses balance and variety and is not just about the glories of meat.

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josh

5 years 4 months ago

MarkA – saying the sausage is a huge amount of food and saying that only eating sausages and nothing else is bad are 2 different statements. you didn’t see what else your friend ate that day. i eat somewhere in the range of 1-2 lb of meat daily and i am in the best shape of my life. i also eat other things, but some meals are pretty much a plate of meat. and what calculations gave you 4 oz meat daily? i don’t recall a meat intake calculator on this site. if you’re using something from the FDA and… Read more »

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Pam R

5 years 4 months ago

Having just started going Primal in earnest for the 21 day Challenge, I went to my local supermarket (here in the UK, Sainsburys one of the higher end players supposedly)to buy supplies for a BBQ as there were lots of non primal people. I normally buy high quality 95% Pork Sausages from the premier range as I thought they were ‘Meaty’, when I read the label I was shocked to find a huge list of other stuff in the 5% 1. Wheaty Bread Crumbs, 2. Soy-something, 3. Chemical sulphate stuff I had no idea about what the hell it was.… Read more »

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MarkA

5 years 4 months ago

Not sure what the state of ground meats is like in the UK, but in the US it’s pretty easy to find bulk ground beef (not burger patties) and pork sausage with no fillers. (On a side note, the vast majority of e. coli outbreaks in the US have been from pre-formed patties or the pre-packaged plastic tubes of ground beef). There’s a grocery chain in the southwestern US that grinds and stuffs all their own sausage on-site, so you can actually see them doing it if you’re there at the right time of day. They usually have at least… Read more »

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Pam R

5 years 4 months ago

In the UK Ground meats are from the butchers or even the supermarket on the whole, in that they are ground meat only. Sausage meat seems to be the big issue. Otherwise it is when you want to buy a product made out of them that the fun starts with added grain and rusk and other unpronounceable stuff. I think I am going to buy my ground meat and then turn it into Burgers myself. I am still going to try to find sausage meat with no bulking agent before I resort to buying a grinder but I have a… Read more »

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Don L

5 years 4 months ago

Great heirarchy of goodness Mark. Thanks for posting this!

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Kia

5 years 4 months ago

There is something elitist and luxurious about primal eating/living that rubs me the wrong way.

that’s because you have need well-conditioned to believe that we are veg-carb eaters – the trick is sadly on you and many others who have been led away from your genetically appropriate foodstuffs – to cheap industrialized ag products where the corporate interests can make a bundle selling you high profit, low cost food-like substances.

Elite: A group of people considered to be the best in a particular society or category.

Luxury: The state of great comfort

Sounds great – sign me up!

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Kia

5 years 4 months ago

Not really. Just thinking about where I come from. Single parents or two parents working multiple jobs, poor neighborhoods, poor schools, access to shitty grocery stores. Its fine not to eat grains, and get more exercise but telling people to walk around barefoot, or in a certain type of shoe eat grass fed this organic that, oatmeal and rice (things that make food spread) and to a farmers markets, co-ops and grow all your own produce etc…or demand people give up certain comforts in life to do this( work more, give up your interner, your tv, use candles instead of… Read more »

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Barbara

4 years 1 month ago

Wow! Thank goodness we have the freedom to make our own choices! No one is forcing any one to eat primal. It’s your decision.